The Berenstain Bears and the Truth First Time Books R

Customer Reviews

Because Trust is One Thing You Can't Put Back Together Once It's Broken

2007-07-11
"It was a lazy sort of day in Bear Country. The air was sto still that the leaves on the big tree house where the Bear family lived were hardly rustling. Except in the beehive, where the bees were always busy, nothing much seemed to be happening. It was the sort of day that sometimes leads to mischief." -- From the book

Papa Bear was in his shop working on some furniture while Mama Bear was out shopping. Bored, Brother and Sister Bear debated what to do next. Should they go pick blackberries? Or maybe twist each other up on the swing to see who gets the dizziest?

Brother Bear clutched his soccer ball, and doesn't seem to want to do anything--and Sister Bear becomes irritated and impatient. "My goodness!...I think you must be in love with that soccer ball!"

Brother issues a challenge to Sister "I bet I can dribble this ball past you!" Then the siblings began to violate one of the house rules: don't play ball in the house!

Well, Mama's favorite vase gets broken--and she arrives shortly afterwards. Instead of owning up to the deed, Brother and Sister cook up a whopper of a lie. When the go to re-tell it to Papa, they didn't have their story straight, either.

Mama expresses her sadness...not so much that her favorite lamp is broken (although this is true, too), but because her cubs may not be telling the truth. The siblings quickly tell her the truth--and are surprised to her tell Gran on the phone that everything was fine in the tree house.

Confused, the cubs ask Mama about what appears to be a lie. Mama replies that "We've got two fine cubs who have just learned a very important lesson about telling the truth. And what could be finer than that?"

The Berenstain Bears and The Truth is one of the best books by authors Jand and Jan Berenstain. Absent of moralizing and harsh scolding (which sometimes crops up in the Berenstain Bear books), this wonderful tale shows children that there is consequences to lying--the most important being broken trust. This book also teaches forgiveness (if rather indirectly), as well as thinking about consequences BEFORE acting.

In short, an EXCELLENT book for teaching children the importance of telling the truth!

Learning to tell the truth

2007-06-01
The kids love the bears and we have quite a collection of the books. This one is cute and tells a worthwhile lesson.

Good Book

2007-01-20
My son loves these books. And he enjoys the ones with lessons.

Cute

2007-01-14
My 3 year old really likes the Berenstain Bears books and this one is no exception. A cute book with a good message.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-29
Wonderful! This book shows Brother and Sister are bored. Sister mentions some ideas, but Brother doesn't want to do any of them. Finally Brother tries to kick his soccer ball past Sister, but she blocks it. It knocks over Mama's favorite lamp. The cubs try to come up with a huge tale about what happened, but they never get the story straight. Finally they learn that honesty is better than lying.

A lie detector for 4-year olds...

2008-07-14
I slip this book into the bedtime rotation a couple times per month. Of all the Berenstain Bears books, this one elicits the most uncomfortable looks from my two, young boys.

That said, the book touches on the value of the truth as well as the problems that result from being a tattler. The book is a great tool for reminding children about values and acts as a springboard to discuss real-world issues.

The best of the Berenstain Bears books can help a parent reemphasize good values and good manners. This book should be in your collection.

Lessons our two year-old enjoys

2008-01-14
I remember the Berenstain bears fondly from my childhood. The books are entertaining with nice illustrations, bright colors and the always interesting...talking bears. They introduce life lessons without being overly preachy about. Our two year-old remembers the lessons and we use them regularly to remind him when he slips up. He is just figuring out how to lie ("mommy didn't give me vitamin yet"). He understands when we compare what he says to the book he knows so well. We've got a bunch of these books and we plan to get all of them!

Terrific Teaching

2008-01-03
This and all the Berenstain Bears books are excellent teaching tools for preschoolers. My four year old granddaughter asks for them to be read over and over.

what a whopper

2007-07-21
This was a great book. Sometimes you can tell your children something many times, and a book or children's show can suddenly make it click for them. Lots of good lessons here-- always tell the truth, lying breaks the trust between people, and lying makes things complicated and leads to more lies, i.e. When Brother & Sister are asked what happened for the second time, they can't exactly remember how the story went the first time they told it! Stan Berenstain had a wonderful talent for making a life lesson entertaining.

Great stories that teach little kids about issues that really relate to them

2007-07-18
The Berenstainbears has long been one of my favorite books to read to my children because they love it, and because it teaches them lessons about things they will actually deal with in real life. Also, very cute and lovable, the Berenstainbears is a great series for your child to read.